A new US peace proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine includes Kiev ceding territory and halving its army. This was reported by a source according to whom the White House plan follows the conditions imposed by Moscow which are constantly rejected by Ukraine because they are considered equivalent to a capitulation.
The surprise move comes as Russian missiles hit the city of Ternopil, far from the front line, causing 26 deaths, including three children.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s efforts to re-engage the Trump administration in the peace process during a visit to Turkey failed after an American envoy, Steve Witkoff, who was supposed to accompany him, withdrew.
Kiev had portrayed Zelensky’s unexpected visit to Türkiye as part of efforts to re-engage the United States in a bid to end the war. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged the warring parties to attend talks in Istanbul, where three rounds of negotiations this year have produced only exchanges of prisoners of war and the repatriation of the bodies of slain soldiers.
The draft US peace proposal includes “recognition of Crimea and other Russian-occupied regions” and “reduction of the army to 400,000 personnel,” a source familiar with the proposal said.
It would also include Ukraine giving up all long-range weapons. “An important nuance is that we don’t understand whether this is really Trump’s version” or “his entourage’s,” added the source, according to whom it is not “clear” what Russia would do in return.
Meanwhile, Daniel Driscoll, undersecretary of defense for the army, arrived in Kiev at the head of a high-profile delegation from the Pentagon to meet with Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmygal. A meeting that one of the commanders in chief of the Ukrainian forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, defined as “productive”. “I once again emphasized that strengthening the protection of Ukrainian airspace, expanding our long-range strike capabilities against enemy military targets, and maintaining and stabilizing the front line will undermine the adversary’s offensive potential,” he said in social media posts.
US news agency Axios previously reported that Moscow and Washington were working on a secret plan to end the nearly four-year-old war, a rumor the Kremlin refused to comment on, later claiming there was no progress towards the peace deal.
In Ternopil, Russian cruise missiles devastated and started fires that caused chlorine levels in the air to rise six times higher than normal.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said he was “shocked” by the number of civilian casualties in the attack. “The horror of powerful long-range missiles, combined with waves of drones increasingly used by Russian forces, was again painfully laid bare this morning in Ukraine,” Turk said in a statement.
“This is what Russia’s peace plans actually look like,” added Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga.